Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 3, 1998
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Sockeye fishing agreement reached; Locke commends tribes and Canada for conservation efforts

OLYMPIA - A 1998 sockeye fishing agreement has been reached among state, tribal, U.S. and Canadian officials.

Gov. Gary Locke today commended western Washington treaty Indian tribes for their continued contributions toward conservation of Northwest salmon populations.

"It is important to recognize that, while the state has just taken unprecedented action with Canada to increase conservation measures for Canadian wild coho and Washington wild chinook, the tribes also have continued to contribute to protect these same resources," Locke said.

In April, the tribes followed recent years' agreements to forego directed coho fisheries in northern Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

"Fewer wild Canadian and Puget Sound coho and chinook will be killed incidentally in tribal sockeye fisheries as a result of this agreement," Locke said.

Locke and Canadian Fisheries' Minister David Anderson announced last week an agreement to curtail non-treaty harvest in border areas to protect weak runs of salmon. The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission and Department of Fish and Wildlife swiftly supported this agreement by enacting specific regulations to reduce non-treaty fisheries in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and northern Puget Sound.

"As co-managers of the resource, the tribes are critical to the success of both countries' conservation efforts," Locke said. "We now have an interim agreement that we hope will lead to a comprehensive, long-term conservation framework covering all fisheries along the border with Canada.

"I also want to express my appreciation to Minister Anderson for his personal leadership and involvement in reaching last week's chinook and coho agreement and
today's sockeye agreement. In both instances, he focused on conservation and not history. Our salmon are the winners," the governor said.

The sockeye agreement allows U.S. Indian and non-Indian commercial fishers 24.9 percent of the harvest. It sets up the following fishing schedule for U.S. Indian and non-Indian commercial fishers:

Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, San Juan Islands and Point Roberts areas (Marine Areas 6, 7 and 7-A): purse seines and gillnets Mondays through Fridays, July 27 to Aug. 21 and reef nets Saturday and Sunday, July 25 to Aug. 16. (Non-Indian commercial sockeye fisheries are limited to the San Juans and Point Roberts areas.)

Neah Bay and Strait of Juan de Fuca (Marine Areas 4-B, 5 and 6-C); Indian gillnet fishing only from noon Saturdays through noon Fridays, July 26 to Aug. 21.

The agreement allows the Fraser Panel of the Pacific Salmon Commission to modify the seasons if it appears too many fish will be harvested or spawning goals won't be met.

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